Kerry vows U.S. will win war on terror
Democrat critical of Bush policy at American Legion meeting
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 Sen. John Kerry attacks President Bush's Iraq policy.
 CNN's Bill Hemmer talks with Lynne Cheney.
 CNN's Aaron Brown reviews the convention so far.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee (CNN) -- Speaking to the American Legion national convention Wednesday, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said that despite an earlier statement by President Bush, the United States can and will win the war against terrorism.
"With the right policies, this is a war we can win, this is a war we must win, this is a war we will win," Kerry said to cheers from the crowd.
"In the end, the terrorists will lose, and we will win, because the future does not belong to fear, it belongs to freedom."
In an interview broadcast Monday on NBC's "Today" show, President Bush said it may not be possible to win the war on terror.
"I don't think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world. Let's put it that way," the president said. (Bush talks potential of terror war)
But addressing the American Legion convention Tuesday, Bush offered a contrasting statement.
"We meet today at a time of war for our country. A war we did not start, yet one that we will win," the president said. "In this different kind of war, we may never sit down at a peace table, but make no mistake about it, we are winning and we will win.
"We will win by staying on the offensive. We will win by spreading liberty." (Bush says U.S. will win terror war)
On Monday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan and other top officials sought to clarify the president's remarks, saying he meant an all-out victory against terrorists may not be possible in the "conventional sense."
"I don't think you can expect that there will ever be a formal surrender or a treaty signed, like we have in wars past. That's what he was talking about," McClellan said.
Kerry on Wednesday also criticized Bush's characterization of the war in Iraq as a "catastrophic success."
"I don't think we need what President Bush has defined as a 'catastrophic success,' " Kerry said, referring to Bush's recent remarks to Time magazine. "I think we need a real success."
To achieve this goal, the Democrat said that the United States needs to bring its allies to its side to share the costs and burdens of the war, including those falling on American troops in Iraq.
"Together, we need to more rapidly train Iraqi police and military to take over the job of protecting the country. That is what I will do as commander in chief because I'll tell you what, that's the right way to get the job done and bring our troops home as fast as possible," he said.
Kerry said Bush failed to listen to advice from top military officials about the situation in Iraq, failed to have a plan in place to win the peace and failed to bring in allies to help during the war or during reconstruction.
"By dismissing the State Department's plan for postwar Iraq and proceeding unilaterally, the civilian leadership simply did not put the mechanism in place to be able to secure the country," he said.
The candidate also criticized the president for failing to equip U.S. troops adequately in Iraq and for not using American forces in Afghanistan to go quickly after Osama bin Laden when it was believed he was in the Tora Bora region.
"I would not have sent Afghans up into those mountains who a week earlier had been fighting on the other side," Kerry said. "I would have sent the best-trained forces in the world to get the No. 1 criminal and terrorist in the world."
In his introduction of Kerry, American Legion National Commander John Brieden noted that the Democratic candidate had recently been "castigated" for breaking the tradition that an opposing candidate doesn't campaign while his rival's party convention is being held.
"Let me set the record straight: He is upholding tradition that all major presidential candidates appear before the American Legion," Brieden said. "The date and the site of this convention was decided six years ago, and it's not our fault that someone else scheduled a convention on top of us."
